Filming a Mind-Bending Variety Show with My Ex [Rekindled Romance]

[Composed Movie Star x Highly Intelligent Amateur]

This novel is also known as Non-Rational Exuberance [Rekindled Love After a Breakup]

Ten years ago, one was a law and finance student, a campus celebrity who ignited a craze for intellectual romance.

Ten years later, one is an award-winning actor and the other an amateur, reunited by a mind-bending variety show.

Netizens: There's an invisible barrier between them! The fated tension and push-pull are top-tier. I'm so here for it.

Alumni: I knew that look back then was more than innocent!

Everyone thought it was just fans joking around and entertaining themselves.

Behind the cameras, only the two of them knew they had something to hide.

A flirtatious tug-of-war between mature men, each tempting the other.

Ten years have passed, and you're still into this type.

*

In a corner beyond the spotlight, two equally matched figures squeezed into a narrow backstage passage.

The aloof award-winning actor gazed at the man before him, whose youthful features had matured with time. The tender springtime memories he'd only dared revisit in his dreams were now confined within arm's reach.

Gu Zeyan kept his voice low, a mocking rasp threaded through it:

"Does he know you're into this, puppy?"

An amateur who'd appeared on a variety show for just three days had already turned the entire entertainment industry upside down, and thrown his thoughts into disarray.

Cheng Yan scoffed and raised a hand to push him away.

"Actor Gu, trying to use your power to get your way? Too bad you and I aren't cut from the same cloth."

*

In front of the cameras, the two held back and kept their distance. Their paths crossed several times, only for them to hurry apart again, like a cruel joke tossed out by fate.

Away from the cameras, they pursued and tempted each other. Cheng Yan considered himself clear-headed, yet he let those burning memories break through his defenses, retreating step by step and luring Gu Zeyan deeper into the trap.

He chuckled, his gaze slowly sweeping over the other man from head to toe.

"So much for your self-control?"

Half the man's face was submerged in shadow as his fingertips brushed lightly against each other.

"If it weren't for my self-control, you wouldn't be standing here talking to me right now."

*

The whole internet was losing its mind over the pairing of the aloof award-winning actor and the highly intelligent amateur, and the buzz reached Cheng Yan's circle of friends. His friends teased him one after another. Even a reunion for classmates who hadn't met in years went out of its way to bring together two departments that had had nothing to do with each other.

After a few rounds of drinks, a man who'd once harbored feelings for Cheng Yan publicly declared his love again. Even after being rejected several times, he showed no sign of backing down.

Just as the room fell into an awkward standoff, the door swung open from the outside.

Gu Zeyan arrived late. His tone was calm, yet it silenced the entire room:

"Sorry, work held me up. I'm late."

"Cheng Yan, come here."

*

"Cheng Yan, what is it you want?"

"I want you to fall willingly, fully conscious. I want you to love me fiercely. I want you to share this time with me, even knowing we'll part."

"It would be my honor."

The night was alluring, and the air by the floor-to-ceiling window grew ever more intimate.

"But this time, I won't let you leave again."

Whether you go forward or backward, you can only be mine.

Tips:

1. The two leads only ever have eyes for each other.

2. The romance is the focus; the plot is just supporting material. Don't scrutinize it too closely, it's only there to serve the character setup.

3. Set in the entertainment industry. The mind-bending variety show is inspired by real shows.

4. The characters are not based on real people.

5. There's a little something extra.

Theme: The law of fate